Generative AI working group aims to provide clarity in this rapidly evolving field 

On Friday, Sept. 15, STLI kicked off our University Teaching & Learning Project for the 2023-24 academic year. This year’s UTLP — our biggest to date in terms of both participating faculty size and budget — particularly focuses on generative AI and its use in both writing and non-writing applications as well as best practices for William & Mary’s digital learning environment (DLE). 

For our inaugural kick-off, participating faculty gathered in Swem’s Ford Classroom to learn more about their roles in this faculty-led, STLI-facilitated project. After a presentation by Pablo Yañez, faculty were given time to connect with their team members and discuss actionable future steps. 

For Classical Studies Associate Professor Jessica Paga, her involvement in STLI’s DLE team provides her with the unique opportunity to learn about what types of digital learning tools  faculty are currently using so that she can understand how to best connect these differing learning techniques across William & Mary’s many disciplines, she says. 

“I’m really interested in just basically doing almost like a survey to see what [digital learning tools] are currently being used,” Paga said. “And then from that type of data, you can get into the questions of are there alternatives that might work better? Are there redundancies? Is there a way to do this more efficiently? Is there something that this department’s doing that would really benefit this other department and vice versa?” 

By the project’s summation, Paga aims to develop practical resources for other William & Mary faculty to utilize and guide their pedagogy. 

“I’m hoping that [the DLE team] can make some infographics, best practice handouts, blog posts, and videos using the STLI website to introduce these different digital tools to faculty to show how to use them, how to integrate them with their classes,” Paga said.